38 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



lambs remarkable for the shortness of their fore- 

 legs, which were bent in, so as distantly to resemble 

 what are called club-feet, while their bodies were 

 thicker and more clumsy than those of ordinary 

 sheep. They were of opposite sexes, and as they 

 grew up they were observed to be gentler and less 

 active than their parents, so that they were unable 

 to surmount the stone walls of the country. When 

 mated together their progeny showed precisely the 

 same characteristics, and even when crossed with 

 other sheep the lambs wei"e reported to be of the 

 same type. They received the name of otter- 

 sheep from their remarkable shape, and produced 

 both good mutton and good wool, but their peculiar 

 value in a country like New England consisted in 

 their inability to break pasture. Here the account, 

 of which the above is a paraphrase, ends. It 

 differs from the one quoted by Darwin in stating 

 that two lambs of the abnormal type were pro- 

 duced, instead of only a single ram. This, of 

 course, makes all the difference, as it has always 

 seemed remarkable that a single male should have 

 been so prepotent as to give rise to a distinct breed. 

 It is true, indeed, that we are told cross-bred lambs 

 likewise conformed to the original type, at all 

 events in most cases ; but this was probably after 

 the breed had become thoroughly established. 



" A more interesting case," wrote Darwin,' 



' Op. cit., p. 104. 



